On March 21, Mr. Thanavun, Deputy Director of Asia and South Pacific Marketing, National Tourism Authority of Thailand, talked about the travel situation of Chinese tourists to Thailand in the first quarter of 2023, revealing that there was a clear recovery trend for Chinese tourists to Thailand in the first quarter, and the number of tourists exceeded the expectations of Tourism Thailand.
Thanavin revealed that in the first quarter of 2023, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand was about 400,000, an increase of 30% over the expected target. The Thai Tourism Board has set a target of 300,000 Chinese tourists to Thailand in the first quarter.
It is understood that most of the Chinese tourists who have recently come to Thailand are independent travel tourists (FIT), these tourists are from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming and other places in China. The number of tourists in the second quarter of 2023 is expected to exceed the first quarter. Especially during Thailand's 2023 New Year Songkran Festival, more Chinese tourists will visit.
Regarding airlines flying between China and Thailand, Thanavin revealed that the number of flights connecting the two countries has increased, and the aviation industry has begun to recover, with a 40% increase in flight volume compared to before the pandemic. On March 20, Spring Airlines just announced the resumption of flights, with 82 flights scheduled per week on China-Thailand routes.
According to the statistics of Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, a total of 498,753 foreign tourists entered Thailand between March 13 and 19, down from 537,937 in the previous week. Among them, the top five tourists are from Malaysia, China, Russia, India and South Korea. Malaysian tourists decreased by 20.58%, Indian tourists decreased by 3.63%, while Chinese tourists increased by 7.25%.
As a result, Thailand is expected to welcome 5 million Chinese tourists throughout 2023, accounting for 45% of the pre-pandemic 2019 levels. It is understood that before the epidemic, Thailand welcomed a maximum of 11,138,658 Chinese tourists in 2019.